The following is, to my mind, a weird thing.

Yesterday afternoon the employee who leaves at 5 o'clock was in the middle of numbering a row of boxes from 1 to 11. He stopped at number 9, laid his marking pen down, and walked out.

When I asked him this morning why he didn't finish 10 and 11 (only 4 strokes of the marker), he said that he was paid to work until 5 p.m. and no longer. (I'll bet he would put in for OT for 3 minutes--he's just the type.)

What adds to the strangeness is that this is the employee who arrives at his desk at 8:05, arguing that his 8 a.m. sign on time is satisfied when the tires of his car cross the threshhold of the company driveway.

He will go far, and I hope soon.